Title: ONE FLEW OVER THE
CUCKOO'S NEST
Date: 6/15/1995; Publication: Magill's Survey of Cinema;
Magill's Survey of Cinema
06-15-1995
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST
Abstract:
Jack Nicholson gives a stunning performance as Randel P. McMurphy, a convict
who feigns insanity to avoid a prison work farm and is committed to an asylum
run by the monstrous Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher). McMurphy's spirited and
rebellious refusal to submit to Ratched's tyranny wins for him the admiration
of his fellow patients and the friendship of Chief Bromden (Will Sampson), a
powerful, silent Native American.
Summary:
When ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST won the five major Oscars -- for Best Picture,
Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress -- it was the
first motion picture to do so since 1934 when Frank Capra's IT HAPPENED ONE
NIGHT was the runaway winner in these same five major categories. It could not
have happened to a better film, and it has not happened again since.
The translation of ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST from a best-selling novel to
a financial flop on Broadway to a big Academy Award-winning movie was an
arduous, often heartbreaking journey. The novel by Ken Kesey, published in
1962, was such a popular success that Dale Wasserman secured the theatrical
rights to it and dramatized it for Broadway, where it was first presented
onstage in 1963 as a David Merrick-Edward Lewis-Seven Arts-Eric production. It
starred Kirk Douglas, returning to Broadway from a long and successful sojourn
in
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST is the story of Randel P. McMurphy (Jack
Nicholson), whose rebellious ways have led him to detention in a prison work
farm. Rather than labor there, he fakes insanity and is certified for the
madhouse. The ward to which he is committed antagonizes his rebellious nature;
Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), supervisor of that ward, is the epitome of an
emasculating, domineering female. She is utterly self-righteous and wields her
power with a placid, self-satisfied smile. From the beginning, McMurphy and she
tangle, and it soon becomes a contest fraught with a kind of Freudian
significance. She becomes the hated female over whom he must triumph if he is
to keep his cunning masculine mastery.
Nurse Ratched, however, has authority and power on her side; she can push
buttons and get results. She maintains a cool facade of emotional control,
while McMurphy's machinations exhaust him long before they undo her. She soon
finds, however, that the other inmates have been won over to McMurphy; they despise
their warden and learn that every time they join with McMurphy, they win a
round over her. One of the funniest sequences occurs when McMurphy leads a
group of his fellow inmates in a fishing boat heist, during which they flaunt
their disobedience of the hospital as well as of every harbor ruling and come
back triumphantly with a haul of fresh salmon.
McMurphy, however, overextends his victories and is driven to attack Nurse
Ratched physically. As a result he is put under restraint, and Nurse Ratched manages
to convince authorities that only a lobotomy will make him a "normal"
obedient patient. McMurphy, the hateful surgery completed, is returned to Nurse
Ratched's ward, where he can only sit and smile like a zombie. In the end, it
is the Indian giant, Chief Bromden (Will Sampson), who has really always loved
him, who frees him from the bondage of existence by smothering him with a
pillow, and then himself escapes to the outer world;
he is the one who manages to fly over the cuckoo's nest.
The film boosted young Michael Douglas into a top production spot in feature
films. It also proved that its Czech director, Milos Forman, was as much at
home in the American scene as he had been in Czech films, notably LOVES OF A
BLONDE (1966) and FIREMAN'S BALL (1968), both of which were greatly appreciated
by devotees of the foreign-language film. Forman had directed an American film
in 1971, TAKING OFF, which was so gently but precisely zany that it led to his
being chosen as director for ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. He brought a nice
sense of controlled lunacy to the asylum antics. One sides with the inmates
rather than with the asylum wardens because it is not taken for granted that
the inmates are more insane in their behavior than those who watch over them. Since
the most inhumane loss for a human being is to be denied freedom of will, the
movie questions whether Nurse Ratched, with all her controlled civility, is not
more truly the one to be judged insane than the willful McMurphy, determined to
break down the reserve of the woman who has become his archenemy.
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST has a nearly perfect cast; each actor fleshes
out his characterization into a unique, fully dimensional, and wholly
sympathetic person. It is Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, however, who make
the film work, because it is their contest of wills that is the core of the
story. Nicholson brings great pathos to his interpretation of McMurphy, and his
performance confirmed the growing belief of many that he is the best film actor
now at work in American cinema; unfortunately, he has not been able to find a
role since ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST that has been so perfectly suited to
his talents. Louise Fletcher is all the more vicious because she is subtle,
underplaying the role of a dangerous woman.
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST owes much of its authenticity to its location
shooting in an institution for the mentally ill; also, Dr. Spivey, head of the
hospital, is played by the real Dr. Dean Brooks, who had never before acted. He
is director of the hospital in
Release Date: 1975
Production Line:
Saul Zaentz and Michael Douglas for Fantasy Films Production; released by
United Artists
Director: Milos Forman
Cinematographer: Haskell Wexler and Bill Butler
File Editor: Richard Chew, Lunzee Klingman, and Sheldon Kahn
Additional Credits:
Music - Jack Nitzsche
MPAA Rating: R
Run Time: 133 minutes
Cast:
Randel P. McMurphy - Jack Nicholson
Nurse Ratched - Louise Fletcher
Harding - William Redfield
Dr. Spivey - Dean R. Brooks
Orderly Turkle - Scatman Crothers
Billy Bibbit - Brad Dourif
Chief Bromden - Will Sampson
Ellis - Michael Berryman
Matterson - Peter Brocco
Miller - Alonzo Brown
Martini - Danny De Vito
Sefelt - William Duell
Beans Garfield - Ken Kenny
Night Nurse - Kay Lee
Cheswick - Sidney Lassick
Taber - Christopher Lloyd
Frederickson - Vincent Schiavelli
Scanlon - Delos V. Smith, Jr.
Candy - Marya Small
Rose - Louisa Moritz
Nurse Pilbow - Mimi Sarkisian
Attendant Washington - Nathan George
Review Sources:
Newsweek: November 24, 1975, p. 113
New York Times: November 20, 1975, p. 52
Time: December 1, 1975, p. 68
Variety: November 19, 1975, p. 18
Named persons in Production Credits:
Saul Zaentz
Michael Douglas
Studios named in Production Credits:
Fantasy Films Production
United Artists
Screenplay (Author):
Lawrence Hauben
Bo Goldman
Dale Wasserman
Ken Kesey
Color
Video Available.
Genre:
Drama
Award Citations:
Academy Awards - Winner - Best Picture
Academy Awards - Winner - Best Director - Milos Forman
Academy Awards - Winner - Best Actor - Jack Nicholson
Academy Awards - Winner - Best Actress - Louise Fletcher
Academy Awards - Nomination - Best Supporting Actor - Brad Dourif
Academy Awards - Winner - Best Screenplay (Adapted from Another Medium) -
Laurence Hauben, Bo Goldman
Academy Awards - Nomination - Cinematography - Haskell Wexler, Bill Butler
British Academy Awards 1976 - Winner - Best Film
British Academy Awards - Winner - Best Direction - Milos Forman
British Academy Awards - Winner - Best Actress - Louise Fletcher
British Academy Awards - Winner - Best Actor - Jack Nicholson
British Academy Awards - Winner - Best Supporting Actor - Brad Dourif
British Academy Awards - Winner - Best Film Editing - Richard Chew, Lynzee
Klingman, Sheldon Kahn
Golden Globe Award - Winner - Best Motion Picture-Drama
Golden Globe Award - Winner - Best Director - Milos Forman
Golden Globe Award - Winner - Best Actress-Drama - Louise Fletcher
Golden Globe Award - Winner - Best Actor-Drama - Jack Nicholson
Golden Globe Award - Winner - Best Acting Debut-Male - Brad Dourif
Golden Globe Award - Winner - Best Screenplay - Laurence Hauber, Bo Goldman
National Society of Film Critics - Winner - Best Actor - Jack Nicholson
New York Film Critics - Winner - Best Actor - Jack Nicholson
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